


Heaven Help the Fool Who Falls in Love

by hideyourfires



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 06:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14785133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hideyourfires/pseuds/hideyourfires
Summary: There are two Scanlan Shorthalts. The first is the one the world sees; charming and playful, flirtatious and theatrical. Then there is the other Scanlan. The one that isn’t for show. The one that revealed itself, in bits and pieces, in quiet moments behind the scenes. The one that is only hers.





	Heaven Help the Fool Who Falls in Love

**Author's Note:**

> *Insert gif of Liam saying 'I miss Scanlan!' here.*

There are two Scanlan Shorthalts.

The first is the one the world sees; charming and playful, flirtatious and theatrical. This is the Scanlan who, upon first meeting her – as soon as Vex says, “This is our friend, Pike. Pike, this is Scanlan,” and she smiles at him and says, “It’s nice to meet you,” – immediately drops down on one knee and asks her to marry him. This is the Scanlan who serenades her in public, buys her bouquets of roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and over-sized carnival teddy-bears. The one who sends such gifts to the second-hand shop where she volunteers, who donates ridiculous amounts of money to her fundraising campaigns, who wears outrageous costumes to every fun-run she organises to arrive at the finish line sweaty and half-dead, but never without a pick-up line at the ready. Who will do anything to make her smile.

It’s this Scanlan that has her heart twisted into knots. The man who, daily, professes his love to her, clutches his chest at the sight of her, composes songs on his guitar with lyrics waxing poetic about the radiance of her smile – because it’s not _real_. She is certain of it. It can’t be. He probably pulls this same shtick with every girl he knows, and she is certain that he knows many. She had heard tales from the others before she had met him, of his romantic endeavours and passionate conquests, both triumphs and failures. She is just another girl, another story, another chase.

Then there is the other Scanlan. The one that isn’t for show. The one that revealed itself, in bits and pieces, in quiet moments behind the scenes. The one that is only hers. The one who arrives at the soup kitchen where she works on Christmas Eve, rolls up his sleeves and starts doing the dirty work of washing dishes and taking out the rubbish. The Scanlan that touches her elbow at Vex and Percy’s wedding, smiles softly and says, “You look lovely,” without a punch-line or tongue-in-cheek wink.

The one that, after the first time – after years simmering quietly on the back-burner, after a chaste but passionate New Year’s kiss, after an awkward first date, after waking up alone, the bed cold, the morning after – she walks into the kitchen to find preparing breakfast. Eggs, sunny-side up, the way she told him she liked precisely once, when they first met.

This is the Scanlan that sits at the piano for hours, softly picking out chords, when something weighs heavy on his mind. The one who worries about his daughter, where she is, if she’s safe. The one who mourns his friend. Who blames himself for his death.

It is this Scanlan that she wraps her arms around and kisses, gently, on the top of his head. Who she tells, “It’s not your fault, Scanlan. There was nothing you could do.” This Scanlan she holds, his head pressed to her middle, as his eyes glisten. Who she coaxes to bed when his eyes are heavy and dark with lack of sleep.

When he wakes, and he is back to his old self – joking and wiggling his brows at some suggestive comment, singing under his breath and, soon enough, at her in the street after a late-running date night, not caring who saw or listened – she smiles, relieved.

There are two Scanlan Shorthalts, and Pike Trickfoot loves them both.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I also plan on writing a Modern AU Pikelan fic soon, in which Scanlan is the singer for Vex and Percy's wedding. I'm writing this here so I have to hold myself to it.
> 
> Find me on tumblr @sarahgotbored!


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